Strategic planning for municipal libraries in Greece

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore issues related to the development of long-term planning for the municipal/public libraries in Greece. In Greece, municipal libraries constitute the largest category of public libraries. Although over the last decade efforts have been made to enhance their services, municipal/public libraries appear to be still in search of a purpose and are at a crossroad. Design/methodology/approach -An empirical qualitative research study was conducted in order to examine the efforts made so far to develop long-term plans and to study the attitudes and views of Greek municipal libraries' heads concerning the development of long term plans. The empirical research was carried out early in the second half of 2007, utilizing a specifically developed questionnaire distributed to 194 municipal library representatives, 100 of which agreed to participate in the study. Findings -A number of current issues facing Greek municipal libraries are studied along with an overview of the strategic plans already developed. The perceptions of 100 municipal library directors in regard to developing strategic plans are recorded and the results overall suggest the need for formal long-term planning in the municipal/public libraries in Greece. Originality/value -This paper contributes to the discussion on the development of long-term planning aimed at municipal libraries in Greece. It is one of the very few studies providing empirical evidence based on the views of municipal/public library directors in Greece.

A library management response model against the economic crisis

“…There are 46 public libraries in Greece, out of which 29 are characterized as central libraries (metropolitan), serving two or three regions -a geographical area much larger than their immediate jurisdictionnine public libraries are characterized as being "historical" since their collections include old and rare, sometimes very precious, editions. There are 194 active municipal libraries, as recorded by Kostagiolas and Korkidi (2008) and about 25 children's libraries (Papazoglou and Semertzaki, 2001).…”

“…The survey by Kostagiolas and Korkidi (2008) included 100 out of 194 active municipal libraries in Greece and showed that these libraries face issues such as insufficient funding, the complexity of their association with local authorities, the lack of staff as well as the low degree of library collection cataloguing. In a similar empirical analysis for Greek central public libraries , it was indicated that their main strengths are derived from their history, their material and their buildings being in the centre of the local communities; while their weaknesses originate from the lack of resources (i.e.…”

“…In Greece, over the last decade, public libraries have moved forward using academic libraries as a spearhead. However, the new reality of the economic environment creates several important drawbacks such as the shortage of financial resources, lack of staff and rather obsolete organizational structures (Kostagiolas and Korkidi, 2008). Nowadays, the persistently changing economic environment together with technology advents poses the need to implement new management paradigms in order to incorporate the users' needs into the philosophy of the library services.…”

Exploring the Significant Differences in the Importance and Frequency of Librarians’ Duties among Different Library Sizes

“…Among these effects are the unfavorable impacts on Greece's public libraries due to severe funding cuts, and the consequent imposed mergers, understaffing, salary cuts, and constraints on developing library collections (Giannakopoulos et al, 2014;Vassilakaki, 2015). Further, literature proposes developing strategic programming as a critical approach to confronting difficulties (Kostagiolas and Korkidi, 2008). Taking into account their external and internal environments, libraries should be able to identify actions necessary to continue playing an active role in their communities (Kostagiolas et al, 2009).…”

How public library users perceive the information professional: is the image transforming?

“…⌻his could be attributed to the changing information needs of this group because of the current economic climate or even because of the reflection in their perceptions of the role the public libraries play in today's world. In addition, the past decades' public libraries in Greece have developed new services often with the financial support of European Union, as well as from sponsorship (Kostagiolas and Korkidi, 2008). Furthermore, the qualifications of the professional staff of the participated libraries should be considered as an affecting factor because their role in the formation of perceptions cannot be undervalued (Lilley and Usherwood, 2000).…”